Vienna loses legal challenge over rules that allow reactors to be classified as climate-friendly
The European Union can continue to count nuclear power as environmentally sustainable after the EU’s General Court rejected a challenge by Austria, siding with the European Commission’s decision to classify nuclear as a climate-friendly investment.
The court on 10 September found against a complaint from Austria, which sought to overturn the decision to include nuclear energy and fossil gas in the sustainable finance taxonomy, a list of investments that can be marketed and labelled as sustainable.
The Luxembourg-based General Court, one of the two courts that make up the Court of Justice of the European Union, said in its judgment the commission “was entitled to take the view that nuclear energy generation has near to zero greenhouse gas emissions and that there are currently no technologically and economically feasible low-carbon alternatives at a sufficient scale”.
The court endorsed the view that economic activities in the nuclear energy and fossil gas sectors can, under certain conditions, “contribute substantially to climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation”.
It added that alternative low-carbon energy sources were not available at sufficient scale.
According to the court, the commission has broad leeway when dealing with complicated science and policy, and nuclear and gas can count as transitional activities as long as they meet strict safety and environmental conditions meant to keep them in check.
The ruling said “nuclear energy generation has near to zero GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions and there are no technologically and economically feasible low-carbon alternatives at a sufficient scale to cover the energy demand in a continuous and reliable manner”.
The EU executive decided in 2022 to classify the two power sources as sustainable investments under the taxonomy.
Austria challenged the move later that year by filing a lawsuit in the EU court in Luxembourg.
Brussels Backed By 10 Pro-Nuclear Nations
Vienna argued that the inclusion of nuclear power and fossil gas breached EU law and that the commission had neglected to carry out an impact assessment or public consultation and bypassed normal legislative processes.
Austria, which can still appeal to the EU Court of Justice, had argued the label would damage the taxonomy’s credibility and lock in harmful technologies. Brussels was backed by 10 pro-nuclear countries including France, Poland and Hungary.
Vienna had said that nuclear should never have been labelled green, pointing to the potential dangers of radioactive waste, reactor accidents and the strain nuclear plants put on water supplies in a warming world.
The court said the commission had leaned on extensive expert studies and that “the Republic of Austria has failed to demonstrate that the commission made a manifest error of assessment”.
The commission said in a statement: “The General Court has upheld the legality of the commission delegated act on inclusion of nuclear and fossil gas energy generation activities in the EU taxonomy,” adding that the rulings also confirmed the sustainability standards laid down in the regulation.
“If this assessment holds true, then it destroys a fundamental principle. What is labelled green is no longer green inside,” said Leonore Gewessler, lead of Austria’s Greens, who filed the suit while serving as the country’s environment minister.
The court said nuclear energy can contribute substantially to climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. Courtesy ČEZ.
